7. Chapter 6: Scary Stories

At lunch Lauren glared at me and gave me dirty looks a lot. Until I finally spoke up.

“Lauren you know I’d appreciate it if you’d stop giving me death glares. Just because you‘re jealous that Jasper Hale talks to me doesn‘t mean you can be so hateful. ”

“Jealous? Of you? He must be talking to you out of pity.”

“Pity? You think it’s pity? How many times have you tried to talk to him and he turn you down? Hundreds right? I think he’s talking to me because I have a 95 average in all my classes cause I‘m smart. And nice and actually worth talking to. If he talked to anyone in this school out of pity it would be you.”

“Well Katie if you‘re so great then why don‘t you just sit with the Cullen’s now. It is a privilege to sit here after all.”

“Who is it a privilege for? I know I’d much rather sit outside in the mud than sit here with you and your snobby, stuck-up , I’m-better-than-everyone-else, bitchy, attitude.”

“I will fight you right here.”, she said glaring.

“Bring it Barbie, Daddy will have to buy you a new nose either way. Of course it will match your boobs perfectly. Fake.” , I fired back motioning. We were both standing by now.

Lauren, not bothering to say anything, grabbed her stuff and turned on her heel walking out the door. Everyone in the cafeteria sat stunned for a second. No one had ever stood up to Lauren before. Then all heads turned to me. I blushed and sat down. I hated being the center of attention. At first the girls were in awe and admiration. Then the guys were in awe and admiration. Until their girlfriends glared at them of course. Then everyone went back to their lunch, starting hushed conversations. I overheard a few “OMG!” ’s and quite a few “I cannot believe it” ’s. A few people stared saying I was gonna be the head of the group but I quickly stopped them from thinking that.

“I’m just tired of Lauren’s actions. I mean she acts like she owns this school and she can push people around. I mean yesterday I saw her walk into the bathroom after a freshman girl and not even two seconds later that girl came out and was crying her eyes out. Lauren followed after looking really triumphant and smug and it just sickens me.”, I shuddered for added measure.

Finally the day ended. I went home wondering what tomorrow was going to be like. After all Lauren was coming on the trip to the beach. I arrived with about five minutes to spare and Mike found a way to get me in the front seat by him. Although I did manage to push Jessica in between us. Both were appeased which I was grateful for. We arrived at the beach and I sat on a log watching the guys gather driftwood. They started a driftwood fire which turned out to be beautiful. It was all the salt on the log. The salt turned the fire different shade of blues , greens a few purple and for a minute even pink. After a while some local guys came. All the single girls started hitting on them. Especially Lauren. A boy came and sat by me and introduced himself.

“Hi I’m Jacob Black. We used to make mud pies together when we were little.”

“Yeah I remember a little boy smearing my face with mud a few times.”

“Of course you got him back.”, he laughed. I laughed back.

“Oh Caitlin you know Jacob?”, Lauren asked.

“Yeah we’ve known each other since we were kids.”, Jacob responded.

“So you guys are more like brother and sister. That will please her date who turned her down.”, Lauren said smugly.

“What date?” Mike, Tyler and Eric asked simultaneously in alarm.

“I asked Jasper Hale to come--as a friend.” I said adding the end quickly.

“Why couldn’t he make it?”, Angela asked.

“He-”

“The Cullen’s don’t come here.”, one of Jacob’s friends piped up. Everyone looked at him for a second then turned away.

“Um…will you come for a walk with me?”, I asked turning to Jacob a few minutes after that, trying to flirt.

“Sure.”, he grinned.

“Uh what did you’re friend mean when he said that the Cullen’s don’t come here?”, I asked when we had gotten a little ways away.

“Oh you caught that huh?”

“Yeah….what did he mean?”

“Well I’m not exactly supposed to tell…”

“I can keep a secret…”, I smiled.

“Oh alright…well supposedly we-the Quielete- people were descended from wolves.”,

“Wolves?”

“Yeah. And we turn into them.”

“Turn into them? You mean like werewolves?”

“Yes and one day we caught our enemies on our land. Hunting.”

“Enemies? Werewolves have enemies?”

“Only one. The cold ones…vampire’s as your people would call them.”

“Okay so what happened?”

“Well they claimed to be something different. So we made a treaty with them. If they didn’t come on Quielete lands and didn’t bite a human we wouldn’t reveal what they were to the pale faces, you people.”, he laughed.

“What does this have to do with the Cullen’s? I thought they just moved here?”

“Or just moved back…”,

“Oh…”, I said.

“Caitlin!!”, Angela called out a minute later. “We’re going to the tide pools. Wanna come?”

“Um…no thanks. I’d rather stay here.”, I said as I saw Jacob grinning like a Cheshire cat beside me. Jacob told me a little more of the legends. A few of them were sort of scary.

“Scary enough for you?”, Jacob asked.

“Yeah…look I still have goosebumps.” I said showing Jacob my arm that I indeed had goosebumps.

“Katie!”, Mike called out a few feet away.

“Over here Mike!!”, I called waving my hand as he turned around.

“Oh Caitlin there you are! I was looking for you.”

“Oh is it time to go already?”

“Yeah there’s a storm brewing.”, Mike said looking out over the sea.

“Oh…okay then. Hey Jacob if you ever have a chance come up to Forks and come see me.”, I said winking at him laying on the flirting pretty thick.

“Sure.”, he grinned.

“Come on Caitlin.” Mike said noticing our exchange.

“Race you there Mike.”, I said and started running.

“Hey no fair!”, he called out after me,” You had a head start.”

I laughed as I turned back to look at him. As I did a branch appeared out of thin air and tripped me.

“Ow….”, I sighed after I stopped tumbling. “Stupid rocks and branches… and stuff …tripping me…trying to kill me”

“Are you okay?”, Mike asked as he caught up with me. “Yeah just scratched up hands.” I said wiping the mud off my hands. “Come on let’s go back.”

Mike helped me up and we climbed into his car me in the back this time. I closed my eyes, rested my head on the back of the seat and tried not to think.